From Me to You

Read with your child about the Jolly Postman’s mail route through fairy-tale land, as he delivers mail to the Three Bears, the Wicked Witch, Goldilocks and others. This cute lift-the-flap book includes copies of the actual letters that are being delivered, so little fingers can pull them out and read them. (Picture book)

Okay, this may stretch the concept of an epistolary novel a little bit… but the book IS written in the format of an oral history, which is almost like a journal! All sorts of people, from civilians to military personnel to scientists, share their experiences and their perspective ten years after humans won the Zombie War. ( I know.. the Zombie War? Really? But give it a try -- even I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.) Okay, this may stretch the concept of an epistolary novel a little bit… but the book IS written in the format of an oral history, which is almost like a journal! All sorts of people, from civilians to military personnel to scientists, share their experiences and their perspective ten years after humans won the Zombie War. ( I know.. the Zombie War? Really? But give it a try -- even I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.)

A fun, cute romance told mainly in the form of back-and-forth texts, memos and emails. (By the author of The Princess Diaries)

During their senior year of high school, Travis and Craig fall for each other. Their first love lasts throughout the summer before college, but twenty years later, they’ve completely lost track of each other. When Travis has a midlife crisis and concludes that Craig was the love of his life, he sets out on a cross-country quest to find him. The story unfolds through a series of letters and emails. This is one of the funniest and most touching romances that I’ve ever read.

It’s 1940 in Brooklyn and twelve-year-old Joey is not having a good summer. His parents recently divorced, and he has moved to a part of the city where he’s the only Jewish kid around, so he’s being picked on. He’s a baseball fanatic, so he starts writing letters to Charlie, a player on the New York Giants, telling him that the kids will stop picking on him if Charlie hits a home run for him. The story is told through letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and the paper trail of everyday life. I cared deeply about every one of the characters in this funny, wonderful novel.

Dr. Jennifer White is a retired hand surgeon who is in the grips of early-onset Alzheimer's. She’s also a suspect in the murder of her best friend, Amanda. As the police pursue their investigation, she tries to keep her rapidly fracturing mind on track by writing letters and notes to herself. Could she have done this awful thing? She can’t remember. A chilling book.

How well do you know your child? Kate is a single mother and a litigation lawyer. When her daughter’s school calls to tell her Amelia has been caught cheating, she can’t believe it. The Amelia she knows would never do such a thing. Before she can get to the bottom of the story, the school calls again. Fifteen-year-old Amelia has jumped from the school’s roof in an apparent suicide. Grieving, and unable to believe that Amelia’s death was a suicide, Kate is determined to figure out what happened. As she sifts through Amelia’s social media postings, texts, and other correspondence, she realizes how little she knew her daughter at all.

How well do you know your child? Kate is a single mother and a litigation lawyer. When her daughter’s school calls to tell her Amelia has been caught cheating, she can’t believe it. The Amelia she knows would never do such a thing. Before she can get to the bottom of the story, the school calls again. Fifteen-year-old Amelia has jumped from the school’s roof in an apparent suicide. Grieving, and unable to believe that Amelia’s death was a suicide, Kate is determined to figure out what happened. As she sifts through Amelia’s social media postings, texts, and other correspondence, she realizes how little she knew her daughter at all.

A hapless young lawyer is stuck handling a nasty divorce case (her first). You learn the details of the case (and of the lawyer’s life) through a series of emails, personal correspondence and articles. It’s a fun, quick, engaging read.

In 1921, paid companion Jane Turner accompanies her employer to a country house where a weekend seance is planned. Other guests include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, who brings along a hard-boiled Pinkerton detective as his bodyguard. When a murder is committed, Jane and the Pinkerton find themselves working together to solve the crime. In alternating chapters, Jane writes letters to her friend Evangeline explaining things from her perspective, and the Pinkerton provides his hard-boiled noir point of view. A charming, fun book.

Fifteen-year-old Bee is bewildered when her agoraphobic, eccentric mother Bernadette suddenly disappears. Her techie father seems unconcerned by the sudden departure, but Bee can’t help wondering why her mother would disappear without even a word to her. The story unfolds gradually through emails, letters and other documents, connected by Bee’s narration.

Just after World War II, British journalist Juliet Ashton receives an unexpected letter from someone who found her name in the front of a used book. The story is told in the form of letters between Juliet and this man, as well the correspondence she strikes up with the other members of his book club. Funny, entertaining and charming. I cared deeply about all the characters and what happened to them.

Eva is carrying some horrific guilt. In her heart she knows she never really wanted to be a mother… and she never even really liked her son Kevin. Now he’s done the unimaginable, and has gone on a rampage of killing at his school. In an attempt to figure out where they went wrong, Eva writes a series of letters to her estranged husband Franklin, confessing her faults and shortcomings and wrestling with what they could have done differently to avert the situation they’re in. It’s a gripping, disturbing, and suspenseful novel.

It’s 1934 and seventeen-year-old Cassandra lives with her eccentric (and penniless) family in a crumbling old castle in the British countryside. An aspiring author, she decides to keep a journal for six months to hone her writing skills. Some of her descriptions of the situations she finds herself in and the foibles of her family members are laugh-out-loud funny. When a couple of rich Americans inherit the estate next door, Cassandra plots with her sister Rose to entrap one of the men into falling in love and marrying Rose, so that he can then support the family. Shenanigans ensue.

Ike the dog is indignant that he has been sent to obedience school, and he doesn’t understand why. In a series of letters to his exasperated owner, Mrs. LaRue, he tries to figure out which of his lovable behaviors landed him there - was it when he stole the chicken pie? Surely it couldn’t be because he howled all night… could it? This is a great picture book that both kids and adults will love -- lots of fun pictures for the little ones, with plenty of sly humor for the adults.

It’s hard to be a teenager. In this series of journal entries, the put-upon Adrian Mole shares his deep thoughts about the annoying adults in his life and his disappointment that the world does not conform to his thoughts about how it should work. I howled with laughter. (If you like this book, Sue Townsend later published a few more of Adrian Mole’s journals including Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years.)

Middle-aged Christine suffers from a form of amnesia. Each night as she sleeps, the last 20 years of her life are wiped out. And every morning she wakes up with a strange man in her bed, who turns out to be her husband, and who patiently explains to her about her amnesia. Her doctor has encouraged her to keep a journal of her daily activities in order to try and make sense of things. Her husband seems sincere and truthful, but the words written in her own handwriting in her journal cause her to wonder what he might be hiding. This is a creepy, hard to put down psychological thriller.

This book, originally published in 1899, is the first epistolary novel that I ever read. When I was about 10, my grandmother gave me a copy of it and told me that it had been one of her favorite books when she was growing up. Eighteen-year-old Jerusha (Judy) Abbott is about to leave the orphanage where she has grown up, and is not sure what her future holds. Unexpectedly, a mysterious millionaire offers to pay for her college education, provided that she write him a letter each month. The book is filled with Judy’s letters, written to “Daddy-Long-Legs” since she doesn’t know her benefactor’s real name. It’s a delightful read!

When a freak dust storm scuttles their mission to Mars, biologist Mark Watney’s crewmates must leave without him when his spacesuit indicates that he’s suffered a fatal injury. Problem is? Mark’s not dead, his suit just got damaged in a freak accident. But the storm has knocked out all communications with Earth, so no one even realizes he’s still alive. The next planned Mars mission won’t arrive until a couple of years from now. Can he stay alive that long? Through the daily journal that he keeps, readers can enjoy his quirky sense of humor, his intelligence, and his dogged determination to stay alive.